The biggest television moments of the year were those that never were: the O.J. Simpson “confession” interview on Fox, the Madonna “crucifixion” dance on NBC, the takeover of primetime by serialized dramas.

Just like the instant we all tossed out our old TVs and bought high-definition flat screens, they never happened.

Those figments of publicity offer a clue to the direction of popular culture in 2006: There are so many entertainment choices now, it’s easier to get buzz than traction.

Katie Couric’s jump to CBS produced more anticipation than long-term ratings. MTV’s “Real World Denver” generated more blog excitement than actual viewership.

Meredith Vieira’s ascent to “Today” and Dan Rather’s sidestep to the mini-audience of HDNet were momentary blips. Charles Gibson got the ABC anchor chair, Rosie O’Donnell got the adoration on “The View.” Nearly everyone, including Bob Dylan, got a show on satellite radio.

While CBS’s “Survivor” made waves by dividing the tribes by race and ethnicity, in the end that development played out as no big deal.

The excitement around serial dramas, hailed as a turning point or even a new golden age for scripted TV, fizzled as “Kidnapped,” “Smith,” “Vanished,” “The Nine” and “Six Degrees” failed to make it through the season. “Lost” slipped in both writing and ratings.

As scripted storytelling faltered, the Hollywood guilds campaigned to get union wages and benefits for writers of reality shows. (You didn’t think all those reality shows magically developed plot structure, did you?)

The newly constituted CW fared well enough, rising from the ashes of the WB and UPN. The on-the-cheap telenovelas of MyNetworkTV were universally panned by critics and ignored by audiences.

On the plus side, “Heroes” and “Ugly Betty” proved it’s still possible to construct an offbeat hit, as long as the stories are taut, the casting excellent, the direction clever and the timeslot tolerable. Two high potential underachievers, “Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip” and “Friday Night Lights,” got reprieves from NBC. (“Lights” will move to Wednesdays in January to get out of the way of “American Idol.”)

And the year’s one TV catchphrase – “Save the Cheerleader, Save the World” – wisely was retired by “Heroes” before it got old.

The welcome return of Aaron Sorkin, the reunion of Meredith and McDreamy and a first-rate season of “The Wire” gave reason to cheer; the ratings behemoth “Dancing with the Stars” and the ascendancy of cheap-to-produce game shows (“Deal or No Deal,” “1 vs. 100,” “Show Me the Money,” “Identity”) gave reason to fear.

The industry clambered aboard the streaming-video bandwagon.

As hits and videoclips migrated to iTunes and YouTube, the way decisions are made at the networks changed abruptly. Now podcasts get Nielsen ratings too. The popularity of NBC’s “The Office” on iTunes reportedly kept that show alive.